NEWPORT NEWS -- Thanks to a big three that would make even the Miami Heat proud, the First Colonial girls tennis team advanced to Saturday's state Group AAA championship match.

The Patriots overcame Richmond-area opponent Deep Run 5-3, and the common denominator to all five of their victories was the presence of their trio of standouts: sophomore Shannon Hudson, freshman Victoria Olivarez and senior Rachel Luke.

First Colonial earned the right to face four-time defending champion Mills Godwin, which lost all of its top four players from a year ago but improved enough throughout the season to have a realistic chance for a title defense.

Godwin defeated Northern Region champion Langley 5-2 in a match that included four tiebreakers and took close to five hours.

Hudson, the Eastern Region singles champion, won 6-1, 6-2, showing the skills that belie her frame of about 5 feet and perhaps 105 pounds. Olivarez, the regional singles runner-up, rolled to a 6-0, 6-0 victory. Luke, a 4.2 grade-point-average student who recently signed with Division I Stetson University in central Florida, won 6-2, 6-0.

Deep Run -- which, like Godwin, is in Henrico County's West End -- gave FC far more trouble than any Eastern Region opponent could. The Wildcats' 4-through-6 players, Mallory Dawson, Logan Eldridge and Tory Brown, each won in straight sets to force a 3-3 tie before any doubles were completed.

But that's when FC's dominance took over. Charlotte Dawson, bouncing back from a singles loss, and Olivarez romped to a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 2 doubles. That made the Patriots' eventual victory seem inevitable, and it became official when Hudson and Luke won 6-1, 6-2 at the top spot.

Branche was penalized one game to start the windy third set because she arrived too late after the customary 10-minute break, and the set was back and forth.

In the tiebreaker, Wood went ahead 5-1, but Branche rallied to go ahead 6-5. Then though, clearly struggling with tension, she served the last of her several crucial double faults.

Groundstroke errors on the last two points by Branche gave Wood an 8-6 victory in the tiebreaker -- and provided the Eagles a 4-2 advantage and total control of the match. The No. 3 doubles team of Jackie Dillon and Jane Fellows clinched it with a 6-3, 6-1 win.

Deep Run and Mills Godwin played three times. Deep Run won the first match, which didn't count in their district standings; Godwin swept all three doubles matches to win 5-4 for the Colonial District championship; and the Eagles won 5-1 for the Central Region crown.

But FC has an excellent chance to end Godwin's reign. The Eagles -- for once -- don't have any obvious future Division I players, while the Patriots do.

When they have won past championships, Godwin coach Mark Seidenberg and his players have made a tradition of briefly going into the nearby James River for a jump and a short swim. Saturday will tell the tale of whether the Patriots can leave the Eagles feeling dry.